Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
AQUACULTURAL ENGINEERING, cilt.113, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
Aquaculture growth through RAS is a promising approach to addressing water scarcity, but it also faces significant energy challenges. This study presents a detailed thermodynamic assessment of a commercial-scale, near-zero RAS (640 m3) for turbot aquaculture in T & uuml;rkiye. Using steady-state operational data, energy and exergy analyses were conducted to identify the sources of thermodynamic inefficiencies. The specific energy consumption was 52.0 kWh/kg of fish produced. The system's energy profile varies with the seasons, with heating and cooling loads causing the overall energy efficiency to swing between 50.3 % and 57.2 %. The largest energy consumption was attributed to water transfer through the circulation process (26.1 %), followed by the oxygenation process (14.7 %), the air conditioning process (13.0 %), and the water sterilization process (11.8 %). On the other hand, the exergy analysis pointed out that the primary contributors to exergy losses were the water circulation process (24.1 %), the water sterilization process (17.1 %), and the oxygenation process (17.0 %). While oxygen and ozone generators had low exergetic efficiencies (less than 2 %), the overall system managed to keep a high and stable exergetic efficiency of 97 % throughout the year, thanks to the conservation of flow exergy in the recirculation cycle. Although water circulation is the primary energy consumer, the processes of thermal regulation and gas exchange are the key thermodynamic bottlenecks where valuable energy is lost. This article presents a diagnostic approach that will assist in the optimization of new generation, energy-efficient near-zero RAS designs.